What is already in you can overcome any challenge

It’s been a challenging week. Lots of family stuff going on which culminated in my husband's dental chirurgie under general anesthesia. Everything went perfectly fine but him undergoing this procedure was a pretty daunting prospect for both of us

Since all this has taken a lot of my energy, the advice from my previous posts on how to embrace my creativity and face the always accompanying  fear have been left untried.

For today again I feel myself encouraged to find my bliss and to let no fear withhold me to experience the joy of creating.

My card for today is “What is already with you” from the Sacred Rebels Oracle. This card tells me I don’t need to look elsewhere for strength and courage because all these qualities are already within me. I just need to acknowledge and embrace them and accept them as an intrinsic part of me. The guidebook recommends to start with small steps and then feel how you grow from the inside out. It starts like a flutter but gradually you have to let it fly free and surrender to who you are supposed to be.

The accompanying card is Mountain from the Gilded Reverie Lenormand. Although this mountain seems far too high to climb it’s a piece of cake when you have wings. Mountains and other kinds of roadblocks can be quite disheartening but when you discover your wings you’ll be free to soar the sky.

"I believe I can fly

I believe I can touch the sky

I think about it every night and day

Spread my wings and fly away

I believe I can soar"

R.Kelly

Different Cards; Same Message

Sometimes I think when my decks had actual voices, they would cry out this message even before I could pull a card. Today’s three card spread has given me a message I have got so many times before already. Honestly I do think I make a serious effort to respond to this message as well as I can but for today the Original Rider Waite Tarot thought I needed to see it laid out before me with yet another combination of cards:

Energy/ focus of today : the Ace of Pentacles. 

Since I’m almost continuously searching for a balance between expressing myself creatively and feeling safe enough to create without fear of failure this card feel like a gift of God(dess). And it is depicted as such in this deck too. This is the card of abundance and of small seeds coming to fruition. It is the beginning of something tangible and new. So here I am again encouraged to pick up my supplies and express myself  in whatever way  I feel is right for me today.

Challenge : King of Cups. The king of Cups is a wise and benevolent King but he is also detached from his own feelings. Always busy helping and understanding everybody else so he won’t have to put his feet into his own dark undercurrents. It is obvious that when everybody needs him, he doesn’t have the time to be introspective, let alone be creative at all.  I  will be on the lookout for this tendency of mine to put off my own needs so I can use all my energy for others (What a clever coping skill by the way)

Gift: The Magician: 

This is the card of confidence, capability, initiative and the courage to do whatever we really want to. His confidence is the perfect antidote for the deep rooted fear of the King of Cups. Just as the King is shying away from his Cup, the Magician will pick it up and use whatever it contains to his advantage and to manifest his deepest desire.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear. “

Justice – Trying to maintain the Balance

On this Summer Solstice day, which happens to be illuminated by a full moon tonight, I drew Justice from the Gaian Tarot. Among other things this card is also all about finding balance in our daily life. An aspect which is a lot on my mind lately. In the tarot community we often talk  about the need for balance; how to find it and even more urgent in today’s world, how to keep it. This suggests that balance is something you can hold on to tightly so when  you’ve finally found it you won’t lose it ever again. For me however a sense of balance is as fleeting as happiness or joy. And also the more we strive for it, the more elusive it gets. For me balance is a verb. A constant movement between experiencing it and losing it and a continuous checking in with ourselves how we are  feeling and if we are still walking our path. So whenever we feel  balanced we are a aware of it and whenever we lose it we know we have to adjust our ways.

What can help us to stay on the path towards a balanced and mindful life: the Child of Earth. We couldn’t have hoped for a better teacher than this child. With his little rabbit as a companion, his curiosity for  the world around him keeps him in the present moment. He experiences life withal his senses. Suddenly I am wondering how his apple would smell, taste and feel and it makes my mouth water. This kind of awareness of the abundance all around us, will help us to achieve a balanced life.

The Magician - The Joy of Creating

For today I pulled two cards. One for the overall energy of this day and one for needed advice

The first card is The magician and this is such a fitting card for today because I have all kinds of plans whirling around in my head and today is a perfect day to actually manifest some of my ideas into being. The thing that stands out the most in this card today is the obvious joy of The Magician. He is drumming as if his life depends on it and he is totally absorbed by it. There is no sense of time and place. There is only of the joy of creating.  And maybe that is what The Magician is all about, creativity has to flow through us like a river because when this flow is obstructed with fear and feelings of inadequacy, it gets murky and smelly..

On the other hand the advice of the Seven of Earth is from a whole different nature. This card urges us to step back and evaluate what we have made or learned. 

This is a card of patience and of watching how life evolves instead of us trying to control everything to the last detail. Together these two cards do make a lot of sense . When the Magician has expressed his creativity he has to step back and wait until it becomes clear what the next phase will be. Each of knows that creativity comes in waves and personally I do have a tendency to hold on to my creative flow anxiously, afraid it will never return once the drum roll is over.  The Seven of Earth learns us to trust the Universe that after every ebb tide our flow will return.

This morning I have sewn a dress for my Waldorf doll. It has been years since I have touched a sewing machine. It wasn’t easy but I enjoyed the experience and I was satisfied how it turned out. It's a pity the bobbin winder is broken, so I have to take my sewing machine to  the repair shop. A mandatory pause but it is a good thing, so I can evaluate this first trial run and search some more patterns and maybe watch some YouTube tutorials on how to sew properly.

Six of Air – Clarity

Today’s card is the Six of Air from the Vision Quest Tarot. Instead of sailing away in a small boat to seek calmer waters  and repose on a distant shore, this card is asking me to stop right here, right now and ask myself: how I am doing? How do I feel? What is on my mind? What does my body tell me? Do I live accordingly to my inner truth? What is my inner truth? etc.  The main question is: Do I live a balanced  and harmonious life or are there one or more aspects which deserve some loving attention from my part.  

Yes, I suppose there are parts of me that feel a bit out of balance. The main issue is my lack of discipline to maintain a spiritual practice and my frustration about it.  This pattern is also applicable to my creative endeavors. It’s funny because going to the gym doesn’t cause me any problems at all. So what to do about it?

The Spiritual Warrior comes to the rescue. It’s funny because I don’t get a warrior vibe from this card at all. I suppose his battle is with his inner demons. He is on a quest for inner peace and balance. He listens to his intuition which tells him which way to go and what to do next. His heart is open for guidance from Spirit. This card teaches me not to plan so much ahead but to take life step by step and to try to be fully aware of where I am right now. Like many of us my day can be very chaotic and busy and filled with distractions and requests for attention. So often my mind is all over the place. Then I feel frustrated because the things I like most are the ones that stay on the back burner. So for today I am going to present with and enjoy what I am doing without worrying if everything I want to do gets done. Tomorrow is another day with new opportunities.

A quest for inner peace will last a  lifetime. 

Review - The Chronicles of Destiny Fortune cards

Recently a new deck has found its way home to me. I have been working with it for some time now without sharing it online, to get to know it a bit better before writing a review about it.

The Chronicles of Destiny Fortune cards by Josephine Ellershaw and Emily Ellershaw with artwork by Claudia McKinney (Schiffer Publishing) is an oracle deck which is a must have for all people who love to combine storytelling and divination.

The 60 cards come in a beautiful box which looks as if it is a real luxurious ornated old book. When we open the box with the famous Schiffer magnetic closure,  there is even an ex libris on the inside.

This amount of detail is also to be found in the guidebook which has beautiful paper and colored representations of the cards with extensive descriptions. Each card is an illustration of a continuous story. This story is very beautiful written and gives you so much to work with when you want to start reading with the cards. The language  is rich and very colorful. Together with the artwork they tell  a perfect story which held me captive until the end.

Besides these little chapters each card has been given some keywords and a more extensive divinatory interpretation..

The artwork in this deck is amazingly stunning. Although I  usually don’t like the use of photos for my decks, I can understand why the creators has chosen for this kind of artwork. It feels almost like snapshots from another realm; a place where you can picture yourself traveling to and having al kinds of adventures and it is also very easy to interact with the characters of the story. I mean, who wouldn’t want be like the hero or heroine of this deck?

The cards are gilded and the cardstock is excellent. They have a glossy finish and after some time they shuffle quite well.

After reading the guidebook I drew my first card and I got , believe it or not, Review. It shows the wonderful experience I had reading the story and don’t you just love the Dutch windmill in the background.  

Although one card draws are perfectly fine, the cards are meant to be read together. Just like in a story something needs to unfold in a reading. In the book we can find a two card spread: “the open book spread” which is great to start learning how to read with this deck. I say learning but it is not really that difficult. Especially when you have read the entire story the cards read very intuitively. From there on you can proceed which larger spread or just flip the cards and tell a story.

For my first open book spread I got:

Distant shores  and Weaver of Words. Again fitting very cards because writing a review can a feel a bit like a distant shore for me

I also like to use the deck face up. It is great to examine important chapters from your own life’s story and  retell them with the cards. It is also possible to rephrase your past experiences in life. With this deck every victim can become his own hero. Recreate your life story into a empowering fairy tale, myth or legend.

Some of my favorite cards:

All and all a great versatile deck and I am so happy to have it in my collection. If you have any question whatsoever about this deck, please feel free to ask me in the comments.
(I've been given this deck for review purpose. All opinions are entirely my own.)

Ace of Fire – Shedding our Skin

Today’s card is again the Ace of Fire from the Gaian Tarot. This card is becoming quite a regular in my daily draws. You can call it the Ace of Rods, Wands, Fire or whatever you like but  the essence of this Ace is still the same: a burst of creative energy. It is fiery and it can vary from tickling to sometimes even scorching but it is always an intense call to wake up and imbue our life with passion.

The snake in this depiction is a symbol of transformation which is very apt because when we embrace our creative passion nothing will ever be the same again. Creativity  and transformation are innate and nothing to be afraid of. Just like the snake is not afraid to shed it skin when he has outgrown it.

When I asked where I should focus this energy on today, I pulled the Three of Earth. 

Three women are working together in the kitchen. Not my favorite place to be since I don’t enjoy cooking and such that much lately. The card highlights the benefits of community. Well that is not a first too, since I’ve been getting also regular messages to try to engage more socially (The Hermit in shadow position, Three of Wands as release card). 

Honestly this is starting to give me a bit of a gnawing feeling. I don’t have a community where I can share my interest and beliefs. And up until now I was very happy with my life as it was. I am The Hermit incarnated and I reather enjoy it. But now I get the feeling I am missing out on something and I don’t like that feeling at all.

So for now I am going to try to embrace the Ace of fire’s energy and maybe that will be the key to become more socially involved. If not, that will be okay for me too. And no, I am not going to sign up for a cooking class J

New Moon in June

For this New Moon I've drawn two cards as usual. The first one for the energy I am going to release and the second one for the energy which is beneficial for me to embrace. From the Anna K Tarot I drew:

Release – Three of Rods. 

In this position it feels like this person is hesitating to take the next step and use whatever talents he has to continue his journey and permits himself to grow. He is all alone and continuously busy weighing his options and making plans. He is looking into the future and wants to be certain of every “what if” before he puts one heavily booted foot in front of the other.

Embrace – Ace of Rods.

Another card from the suit of Rods but such a different one. I have been pulling the Ace of Wands a lot lately. Here we see a bare footed girl is using her rod to walk over  the abyss. She spreads her arms like if they were her wings and it feels like she soars to the other side. This card is urging me to be fearless and dare to be impulsive; to have fun and not to be afraid of making a mistake.

This new Moon spread reminds me of the Vasalisa the Wise spread from June 1

The three of Wands and the Hermit have a lot in common in these two spreads and the Ace of Wands… well I suppose this card will keep  turning up  until I take that leap of faith.

Two of Earth – Help, I need somebody Help!

Today’s card is the Two of Earth (Pentacles) from the Gaian Tarot. We see a mother holding two children in her arms, while deciding which vegetables she wants to buy. One of her children is crying and needs soothing and the other one doesn’t look that cheerful either, but for now he only needs a cuddle.

Life can be like this sometimes or maybe more often than not. These days we are all expected (by others but also by ourselves) to manage our chaotic circumstances and to multitask our way through the day. When I saw this card I immediately was reminded by my trips to the market with S, who was still a toddler then. It didn’t take me long to realize that if  my husband would look after her while I was doing the shopping, everything would go much more smoothly.

There is no shame in asking for help. Our loved ones don’t always notice when we need their help, so it is up to us to speak up and communicate our needs instead of grumbling and complaining while doing everything ourselves.

It seems this mother manages quite well, but I am sure she would like to come home where her both kids were playing in the garden and coffee  was brewing...

Tarot spread: Vasalisa the Wise

This week on Instagram I came across a  lovely little three card spread, created by Joanna from @thebookishfox  and based on the story of Vasalisa the Wise (the Frog princess) a Russian fairy tale. A common theme in the stories about Vasalisa and Baba Yaga is the importance of trusting your intuition

These are the three questions this spread will try to answer.

1. What shadow needs exposing in my life?

2. What has the Wild Hag got to teach me?

3. How can I connect more deeply with my intuition?

I was very intrigued by this spread, so I picked up my Vision Quest Tarot and gave it a try  for myself:

1 Hermit – Since this card is in the shadow position, I’ve interpreted it as a challenging card. In this spread it warns me of the danger of isolation and self absorption. It is so tempting to hide from the world and to use the need for seclusion as a way to disconnect from life itself. The Hermit in this depiction is hiding his face from the outside world, afraid to show who he really is. The bear in the background is walking away from him and so gradually the inner strength of the Hermit is fading away and little by little both fear and insecurity will take its place.

2 Ace of Fire – From a moonlit night to the exuberance of a sun drenched day. The Ace of Fire in the advice position feels like a spiritual wake-up call. This card represents the creative drive and the desire to broaden our horizon. It is the essence, the spark of life itself. So be brave enough to live life as it presents itself to you day by day and try to find opportunities to experience sheer bliss!

3 Ten of Water – today, for me, the Ten of Water stands for the practice of gratitude for the abundance in our life. Not so much about the stuff we have but  more about what we experience. Love and happiness are flowing, like a myriad of cascades into the lake, into our life. We only have to be  willing to receive and be grateful for what comes to us.  This attitude will help me to be more present and receptive for the beauty of life and to be more open to the messages of my intuition.